Saturday, October 27, 2012

Vintage Slides Lampshade

This is a project that I was really excited about while Chris was skeptical. Although when I was making this he kept saying "I love lamp" which I guess is a quote from a movie. When I was finished I was thinking I love THIS lamp. It melds our vintage and industrial styles together, I think, and is so unique.

You need: A small desk lamp (I got this one at Walmart for $12), vintage slides (which I bought 50 of on Etsy for $5 plus shipping)

You don't have to use a store bought lamp like this. My first attempt included finding a cool lamp base and an old lamp shade, but buying a small lamp worked out much better.

So, first, remove the lamp shade and cut of the fabric.

All you need are the top and bottom metal rings. Don't throw out the fabric just yet though.

Use it as a template to layout your slides. I used 12 columns of 4 slides, so 4 rows and 48 slides in total.

I attached the columns of four slides together using jump rings, pliers and a metal hole punch. You can use any sort of small hole punch for this.

Next I used larger jump rings to attach the columns to the top metal hoop. I did this with the top part of the lamp shade on the lamp which made it much easier.

Once they are all attached, use jump rings to also connect them to the bottom metal hoop. After that I want in and connect the rows.

I didn't measure where to punch the holes, but you could. I guessed on one side then used that hole to determine where to punch one on the slide next to it, you want them to be right next to each other so they hang evenly.

Once all of the slides are attached on all four sides, you're done!

This lamp shade looks especially good lit up. I'm going to pretend all of the families in the slides are related to me.

Let me know if you have any questions or if you decide to try this out!